If you missed the news from Scotland this morning, Muirfield (the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers) have voted to not let women join their club. In turn, the R&A have announced that clubs without female members will not host Open Championships going forward.

The members of Muirfield needed a two-thirds majority to pass the vote for female membership and at the end of postal ballot voting last night, that majority was not met. What do you think this means for Muirfield? Will the private club suffer at all from the decision? The economic benefits of the Open Championship in East Lothian will be lost, which is one distressing aspect that hasn’t been widely mention.

WE ARE GOLF, a coalition of golf’s leading organizations, will host its ninth annual National Golf Day today on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Golf industry leaders will meet with Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and federal agencies to discuss golf’s nearly $70 billion economy, $4 billion annual charitable impact, and many environmental and fitness benefits. "With 2016 being an election year, it’s even more important for political leaders to understand the impact our industry has on local communities and millions of Americans," said Steve Mona, Chief Executive Officer of World Golf Foundation, administrator of WE ARE GOLF. "Since our first event in 2008, National Golf Day has educated our nation's lawmakers about the countless benefits of the game and we look forward to continuing this agenda in May."

You may never have the timing of golf’s greatest players but one lucky soul now has Harry Vardon’s timepiece. A clock, presented to Vardon in 1911 on the occasion of his fifth victory in the Open Championship, was sold at auction over the weekend for $6,400, nearly twice its expected price. The auction, held in Wiltshire, England, also included an array of items related to the ill-fated Titanic, among them a biscuit which had been aboard one of the lifeboats—it sold for $15,000.

Somewhat lost in the weekend’s hoopla about The Players Championship—at least on this side of the Atlantic—was the death on Saturday of Christy O’Connor Sr., at age 91. One of Britain’s greatest players of the 1950s through 1970s, he was known in Ireland simply as “Himself.” Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said O’Connor was a “larger than life character and the owner of the best pair of wrists in the game.” O’Connor won 24 European Tour titles as well as many other events around the world, and recorded 10 top-1o finishes in the Open Championship, including runner-up in 1965. He also played on 10 European Ryder Cup teams from 1955 to ’73. His nephew, two-time Ryder Cupper Christy O’Connor Jr., died in January at aged 67. Current European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke said, "Christy was in many ways the father of Irish golf and his death, so soon after that of his nephew Christy Junior, means Ireland has lost two Ryder Cup legends in the space of five months. Christy Senior was a golf icon and a wonderful person, as well. He did so much for the game he graced for many years while the Ryder Cup to some extent is what it is today because of his passion for it. Irish golf in particular and golf in general has lost one of its greatest heroes."